VIDEO | What’s really going on in the residential market?

Rental homes in the suburbs are hot, high-rise development in cities is not – and there is a market for stabilised assets but it is shallow and made up of unfamiliar players.

A roundtable discussion hosted by Place North in association with Ocasa Homes sought to get under the skin of the regional residential market and discover who the current winners and losers are as the sector battlers headwinds and a crunch budget approaches.

Find out more by watching the video at the top of this page, or on the Place Media Group YouTube channel. 

Key takeaways

• Large-scale residential development in city centres can only come forward with public sector support to plug viability gaps. That means that Greater Manchester, whose Good Growth Fund can do just that, is better placed than almost anywhere outside of London to deliver density in the current inflationary market.

• While new-build development is tough and forward funding deals are few and far between, the investment market still presents opportunities for those looking for stablised assets. “It is a good time to be an investor,” said Ian Scott, chief executive of Ocasa Homes, who said opportunistic companies and individuals could get some good deals in a challenging economic climate.

• The single-family housing market continues to go from strength to strength, propelled by demand for rental homes in the suburbs. The buoyancy of the market is illustrated by the amount of capital flowing into it. This week, Patrizia announced its intention to invest £1bn in UK residential and many agents expect SFH investment volumes to exceed the £3.1bn recorded in 2025.

• BTR investment volumes are up year-on-year but the figures do not chime with market sentiment, which is downbeat, according to CBRE’s Giovanni Pilla.

• Thanks to the government’s £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme, registered providers are in a strong position to move the market when its comes to the delivery of units.

• Measures that put downward pressure on interest rates would be welcomed in the upcoming Budget, with developers struggling with the cost of debt at present. Meanwhile, rolling out good growth funds across the country was seen by participants an effective way to unlock the housing pipeline.

• The brutality of recent years has forced those within the residential sector to become resilient, a trait that will stand the market in good stead in an increasingly uncertain business climate.

Participants

• Ian Scott, chief executive of Ocasa Homes

• Elle Gray, national head of living investment, LSH

• Louise Emmott, managing director, Kingsdene

• Guy Butler, co-founder, Glenbrook

• James Wilson, partner, Allsop

• Giovanni Pilla, director, CBRE

• Chair: Dan Whelan, deputy editor of Place North West

To learn more about Ocasa Homes, visit ocasahomes.co.uk.